Bobby: Honour In Defeat

Bobby Zamora says the players - and fans - can hold their heads high after Wednesday evening's narrow defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

"The lads played well and created one or two opportunities, especially in the first half; in the second half they came at us a little bit more, but all round we played well," he says.

"Come the end of the game the fans were singing and it seemed they had a good time and were enjoying themselves.

"We did our best against a quality side and I think 1-0 is not too bad a result, considering they thumped Blackburn 4-0 on Saturday.

"Their team was full of world class players; two of the back four have Champions' League winners' medals and they are a top side."

Bobby started out on the left with Matthew Etherington on the right and Nigel Reo-Coker playing off Marlon Harewood, and Bobby explains:

"It was so Mattie could come in on his right foot and we changed a couple of little things; I think we did all right and we played some good stuff after we settled in the first five or 10 minutes."

Bobby is full of praise for James Walker's performance - and says he was unlucky not to prevent Kezman from scoring.

"Jimmy got down and had a little touch on it but it was just not enough," he reflects.

"But it was a quality save from the penalty, which I don't think should have been given - I don't think the referee was the best, to be honest; he gave everything to them and we were upset by the penalty award."